I woke to my nose twitching from the predawn breeze blowing through camp. Sleeping exposed to the air has once again beaten my alarm clock in effectively waking me up in the dark morning hours. After engaging in a bit of sleeping bag pilates to get my socks on, I finish getting dressed in the coldest air of the trip. Thank goodness the moon is still out so I can put my pants on right. The down puff jacket that was bulky and stupid last night is the only thing keeping me vertical. That, the thought of the climb of the day, and more immediately...coffee! Watching the sun rise sipping coffee in one’s sleeping bag is pretty sweet. Sipping on coffee watching the sky light up while getting ready for a good day of climbing is right up there.


When a day starts like this with a steaming cup in hand, it tells my newb senses that a good day has already begun. I was returning to an old friend, a popular classic, but I’m coming back to lead this route for the first time. I am confident having scaled this stretch of rock before, and still marginally anxious about all the unknowns that I know lay ahead. I decided this climb not to consult any topo, and see where my newbie route finding skills and fuzzy memory would take me. But first, I had to get out of the warm car and puffy jacket...and put down my coffee. I tell myself that one day, I will be a good enough climber that I can bring my insulated cup on the longer early morning approaches.

The hike is beautiful and fun in the lightly sweaty way and we steadily move upward towards the base of the climb. With traffic on the climb being as expected, we launched in good time while enjoying the local tank top view. On lead on the second pitch I could see the good times ahead just past the bushy dirty crack (heh, the last time I heard that...!).


Never fear! My leader skirt gives me special abilities to navigate onward and upward to higher times.


By the time my next lead came up, we had passed a party of 4. Slowly but surely I was getting higher and it was FUN!


But where the hell am I going to go?


Curiosity of what was around the corner finally got me over my reluctance over traversing and I got to give the rock my first proper full body hug of the day.


The top out was even more beautiful than I remembered, and with some views that were new to me, like my follower coming up level with the summit.



And after a day like that, I can to admit to myself that perhaps I’ve moved on from simple infatuation to a full on addiction. Maybe...

enough already...climb ON!


thanks for reading!

Cheers

LS